Smart Thinking
by EmmyMetal
Summary: Daryl finds a little girl out searching for supplies. Her name is Chloe. She's seven years old, but she's smart for her age. He decides to take her in. Though he's getting a bit annoyed with everyone trying to tell him how to do things. He knows what he's doing.. ain't he?
1. Chapter 1

_Where the hell is that comin' from? _Daryl thought. He heard a small whimpering. It might be a dog or something.. animals could have taken shelter inside the building.

He kicked another door open with his foot. They had taken a run to town. Carol had suggested that they would hit an orphanage, because of that small chance that they might have diapers and formula for Judith. This room had only one walker in it, but Daryl quickly shot it in the head with an arrow. It fell to the ground and Daryl took the arrow out of it's head. Wiping the arrow on his right pant leg, he lifted his head back up, realizing that the noise had been coming from this room. He looked around quickly, seeing the extra beds. There was a set of drawers attached to the walls and he started to throw them open. Nothing. There was one more. It was one of those things that had been in old houses or hotels. The one that you could put food or something in and used a rope to pull it up to the floors above. He put his hands on the two doors, and pried them open. Daryl couldn't believe what he saw. A _child. _Hugging her knees. Her eyes were closed.

"Don't eat me! Don't eat me!" She cried.

"It's okay. I'm not gonna eat you." He reached out for her.

"Please, mister. I've been good. I don't want it to get me!" She said,

"I ain't gonna eat you." He repeated. "See that?" He pointed to the walker he had killed previously. She opened one eye and looked at the walker on the ground. "I-I'll protect you now. Got it?" She looked back at him, eyes fully open and nodded. She slowly reached her arms out for him to pick her up. He hesitated, but then picked her up. "I'm gunna have ta put ya down. I can't use my bow if I'm carryin' you. Just stay real close to me, okay?"

"Okay." She said, "What's your name?"

"Daryl. What's yours?"

"Chloe." She whispered, they started walking down the stairs.

"I've got a group, Chloe. We've got another kid too. His name's Carl. Bit older than you." He said, they got to the front door and he opened it. But Chloe went and closed it again. "What are you doin?" He asked,

"Are you crazy? There are ton of them out there!"

"Keep your voice down." He said, "There ain't that much and my people are out there." Wow. That was weird. Calling them his people.. "We can get out, but if you keep yellin' then you'll attract them all here." He said, shaking off his thoughts.

"Okay.. sorry." She said,

"Don't apologize." He muttered, he opened the door again and she took his hand. "Oh shit!" He then swore. He forgot about the diapers and formula.

"That's a swear!" She gasped.

"Sorry. We gotta go back and get somethin' real quick." He said, walking back in.

"What?" She asked,

"Baby stuff. We've got a baby an' that was the reason I came in here in the first place." He explained. "You know where they keep it?" She nodded.

"Yeah! The babies room wasn't that far from mine and the other girls." She said, running back up the stairs and a few doors further down from the room he found her in. She threw the door open and went straight for a cabinet underneath a changing table. She threw it open. "Tada!" She said, smiling. It was filled with diapers.

"Good job, kid!" He exclaimed. He then frowned. "Got somethin' to put them all in?" She pouted.

"Let's see.." She walked over to one of the cribs, climbed up on the bars and reached in. Grabbing one of the blankets, she jumped down. She spread the blanket on the floor.

"Hurry up, kid. We're runnin' out of daylight." He said, she walked back over to the cabinet and grabbed the diapers. Putting them onto blanket, she tied them up. "You're good." Daryl admitted even he didn't think of that. She smiled and handed it to him. He made sure that it was tied tightly and slung it over his shoulder. "Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

**EmmyMetal- Wow. I'm surprised people like this so much. Sorry about the crappy summary. I didn't want to write "I suck at summaries" I hate when people do that.. I'm still kind of trying to figure out what I want Chloe to look like. I kind of wanted to make her Asian at first, but was like. Should I make her red-head? No.. I want to make her Asian. Make it ironic..XD Well, here's chapter two!  
**

* * *

"What do you have?" Glenn asked,

"Got a few packs o' diapers." Daryl said, handing him the blanket bag.

"Um. Daryl. Who's that?" Glenn asked, looking behind him at Chloe, who was hiding behind Daryl's leg. She was looking around. Taking in the scenery.

"This is Chloe. Found 'er in the orphanage." He said, Chloe looked up at her name. "This is.. Glenn, Chloe." He said, Chloe looked at Glenn. Who had put the bag in the trunk.

"Hi.." Chloe said, Glenn smiled.

"Hi. I'm Glenn. You hungry, Chloe?" Chloe slowly nodded. "We've got food back at the prison. Let's go." Glenn said,

"Where are Carol and Maggie, Glenn?" Daryl asked,

"They're coming." Glenn said, geustering his arm behind Daryl. The two girls were running. Glenn dropped his smile as walkers appeared behind them.

"Daryl!" Chloe cried. Daryl scooped her up in his arms and jumped into the car.

"Glenn!" Maggie yelled, Carol was shooting at he walkers behind them as they ran. Glenn removed the gun from his belt and shot at some of the walkers close to Maggie and Carol. They made it to the car. Maggie jumped in the passengers seat and Glenn got in the drivers seat. Carol got into the back where Daryl and Chloe were.

"Drive China man!" Daryl yelled, the car sped off. Chloe had her face pressed against his chest and watched Carol, who had leaned against the window and was breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked her sitting up.

"I'm okay-" Carol looked over, suprised. Seeing the girl in Daryl's arms. She slightly smiled. "Who are you?" She asked,

"Chloe. I'm seven!" Chloe said,

"Well, Chloe. Welcome to the group."

* * *

They had arrived back at the prison and Chloe was meeting everyone in the group.

"You have a baby!" She exclaimed, as she saw ass-kicker in Beth's arms.

"Would you like to see?" Beth asked, Chloe nodded and Beth kelt down. Chloe moved closer to Beth and smiled.

"She's pretty. What's her name?" Beth frowned.

"She doesn't have a name." Beth said,

"Does too. Her name's ass-kicker." They laughed at Daryl's comment. But Chloe frowned.

"You can't name a baby that!" She exclaimed,

"She's right." Hershel said,

"We'll have Rick name her when he gets back." Carol said,

"Is that her daddy?"

"Yes. That's her daddy." Carol said,

"Where is he?" She asked,

"Somewhere in the prison." Carol answered.

"He's gotta get back. She needs a better name than ass-kicker." She rocked back and forth on her feet.

"But I like ass-kicker." Daryl said,

"Too bad." Chloe stuck her tounge out at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Well what do you want to name her?" Daryl asked,

"Hmm.. I don't know. Ooh, what about Hope?" She said,

"That's a good name. We'll run it by Rick and Carl." Beth said, Chloe smiled brightly.

"Yay!" She said happily.

* * *

"Her name's Judith." Rick told the group.

"Aw. I thought it would be Hope." Chloe said, but she was still smiling. "Judith's a better name than ass-kicker." She shot at Daryl. He rolled his eyes. She'll never let that go.

"We'll name the next kid Hope." Rick ruffled her hair and she pouted.

"You messed my hair up." She said,

"Sorry kiddo." Rick said,

"Wanna go play at the basketball hoop, Carl?" She asked,

"What do we play with?" He asked, she shrugged.

"I dunno." She said, "Can we play tag or something?" Carl sighed.

"Fine." He said, "You're it." He poked her and took off running.

"That's cheating, Carl!" She yelled, but ran after him anyway.

"How do you think Carol's taking to Chloe?" Rick asked,

"How the hell am I suppost to know?" Daryl said,

"Well, you showed up with a little girl. After her's became a walker." Rick said,

"Don't you fucking dare. Sophia wasn't mine. It ain't my fault she got lost!" Daryl raised his voice.

"I never said it was. I just asked a simple question." Rick said, Daryl gave Rick a look and sighed in defeat.

"I think she's doin' good. Think she likes 'er." Daryl said,

"The group likes Chloe.. do you know what you're doing?" Rick asked,

"Course I do. What kinda stupid question is that?" Daryl said, annoyed.

"Have you ever cared for a child before all this?" Daryl stared at him.

"Don't make me shoot you, Rick." Daryl growled.

"Fine. Sorry I asked." Rick walked into the prison. Leaving Daryl to watch Carl and Chloe.

"Daryl! You're it!" Chloe poked Daryl and he blinked.

"What?" He asked,

"Do you not know how to play tag?" Chloe asked shocked.

"Yeah, I know how to play tag." Daryl said,

"Then you're it!" She repeated, running off. "Run Carl!" She yelled, giggling. Carl stared at Daryl and then ran. Daryl broke into a run after the kids. Not going at full speed, but just enough to make it look like he wasn't going slow for their sake.

"You're not gonna get me!" Chloe taunted.

"Oh yeah?" He ran faster, he wrapped his arms around the girl and they tumbled to the ground. Her squealing with laughter and he laughed along. At that moment, he felt as if she was his own. His daughter. Nothing could ruin this moment. He laid on the ground with her on his chest. The both still laughing.

Carl, watching from a few feet away, rolled his eyes, smiling. He walked back into the prison. Leaving the two to their moment.


End file.
